Creating a Strengths-Based Culture
| Site: | Colorado Education Learning Management System |
| Course: | 2e (Open Access) Supporting Twice Exceptional Learners |
| Book: | Creating a Strengths-Based Culture |
| Printed by: | Guest user |
| Date: | Friday, 22 November 2024, 8:02 AM |
10 Ways to Start With Strengths in Our Schools
"A strengths-based culture capitalizes on strengths
rather than focusing solely on improving weaknesses. This doesn’t mean people
can skip the parts of the job they don’t like or that they should give up
trying to become competent with tasks they aren’t great at. It simply means you
can exercise more flexibility..." CUInsight
Although the above quote applies to business, it is easy to shift these ideas to our students and classrooms. We need flexibility to consider strengths first while continuing to support our 2e students' disabilities. We apply that flexibility to focus first on strengths
Chris Wejr has done extensive work on incorporating strengths and his work has been cited throughout this course. His article below suggests once again that we need to shift our thinking from "My Students" to "Our Students." Take the time to read this short article to help build a strengths-based culture in your educational community. Chris Wejr in "10 Ways To Start With Strengths In Schools" (Wejr. 2914)
10 Ways to Start With Strengths in Schools
1. Shift from my students to our students
2. Make the first contact about the strengths
3. Schedule in time for a child to use his/her strengths in school
4. Teach parts of the curriculum through the strengths/interests
5. In meetings, start with the bright spots
6. Start the conversation on how we honor students ins schools
7. Reflect on Assessment practices
8. Watch those labels
9. Start with the strengths of staff and the school community
10. Share the stories
Embracing a Strength-Based Perspective and Practice in Education
This article Embracing a Strength-Based Perspective provides some thought-provoking questions for educational communities to consider.
Reframe How IEP Teams Talk About Strengths
https://www.understood.org/~/media/d221c5e647d846009a32568b8af373dc.pdf
Get Started Supporting Strengths-Based Learning
Amanda Drury provided this handout which describes following five steps to support strengths based learning. Take a moment to review this information and brief descriptions of each of these steps:
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Identify
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Analyze Specific Needs
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Create a Learning Profile
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Eradicate Learned Helplessness
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Design an Individual Program
Supporting Twice Exceptional Students in the Classroom by Amanda Drury July, 2017
Optional - Helpful Websites
If you are looking for more resources on classroom strategies, here are some websites that might be useful to you. There are many resources available that describe evidence-based instructional programming options and interventions. These resources might be found by content area or by general gifted and special education topics. The following list of websites, though not exhaustive, should be useful when planning for 2e students. These are optional resources to use at your discretion.
LD Online http://www.ldonline.org/
NAGC (National Association for Gifted Children)
CEC (Council for Exceptional Children)
Hoagies for Gifted (one of the most comprehensive resources for gifted education)